SimplyComplexJen

Dear Chuck,

You're an asshole.

Regards,
Jen


Why is Chuck an asshole? Because he knew he could have helped and refused. I needed a battery. I wanted to run to home depot and my car wouldn't start. I had a friend come over and jump start me (but of course I asked him : Hey! Can you come jump me?? He was disappointed that I meant my car). I drove to O'Reiley's and bought a battery.

Then he handed it to me.

I asked, doesn't the price include installation? (I know I should have asked before). He replies no, but I have tools to loan you and hands me a tool box. He claims it's a liability issue.

Luckily I've done this before and am thinking, "eh, no problem." I start digging and digging through the tool box. LOTS of sockets, no ratchet. There were other tools, none the right size. I look and test tools for about 20 minutes. I'm pissed, it's after 9 and I'm tired.

I go back in.... hand it back to him and give the box back to him. He saw me the whole time and asked, "was there a problem". I explain to him the problem of sockets without a ratchet. He actually had the nerve to say, "oh yeah, I forgot to put in back in there."

Now the store is closed and I have to ask him for a jump start, I'll drive to a friends' house to get this done. When I asked him for the jump, he looked at me, rolled his eyes and said, "I guess I can help you." He changes it (with the use of proper tools) in under 2 minutes.

Time lapsed for Jen? 28 minutes.

In those 2 minutes, he managed to ask where I went to high school.... typical question for a 22 year old I think. Turns out he went to my HS. Doesn't remember me.... there is a shocker. I was 8 years older. I stopped going to HS parties in, well, about when I was 18 years old.

Chuck, assuming the name on your shirt is correct.... You are the first person in 2007 that I can call a douche bag.

Congratulations.

at least for our house.... it's the simple pleasures around our house that makes me smile.

Also, I didn't realize that these lightening bugs are not all over the US.... friends from Portland have never seen one.... so, if you haven't.... come on over! We have HUNDREDS in our backyard!

Trying to catch one.....

Letting it crawl on her arm.....

Sprinkler in the backyard..... our dog hates it.... I'm starting to doubt she's 1/2 lab...

Our company actually received DEATH THREATS over the recalls. We don't even make the food! We're just brokers.

I'm always amazed at people who love their pets so much, they are willing to (threaten to) kill a human. Irony lost on anyone?

Business is almost back to normal. Some will be forever lost.

I was able to get a unique perspective on this. On one hand, I am a pet owner and logged into petconnection.com almost daily to get updates (sometimes they broke news faster than we were hearing it) and on the other, I have a business that it is my job.

I think the most disturbing accusations from those outside the industry was that "we should have known". But in our case, we don't even see the product... as brokers, we just handle the paperwork in between the two.

I'm still frustrated about the way it was handled. I lost what little trust I had in the FDA. I no longer (knowingly) buy Chinese food products.

I continue to lose money over this. Personally. It sucks and I can't do anything to stop it either.

The government put some near-impossible restrictions on Chinese protein imports to satisfy the public, but honestly what used to take 2-5 days to clear is taking almost 10 weeks. Do I think these restrictions are long term solutions? No. But maybe it makes some people feel a little warmer and fuzzier that our government is doing something.

You know what impresses me about petconnection.com? They didn't fall for the doublespeak. They were analyzing the press conferences and picking apart the timelines. Although they never figured out 2 of our 3 buyers (thank goodness), they were darn accurate on 90% of other information they had. (The commentors made some stupid remarks). There are so many things I thought I could contribute to the "fight", but how do you do that and maintain my position? You can't.

Daily I think : What did I learn from this? There is so much.... and maybe that is a blog for another time.

I moderate a Mormon Debate Board on beliefnet in my "free" time (which really means I sneak in/out during the day while on the phone at work holding).

It's a very active board with some interesting topics. Today, someone made the comment:

"I'm always astounded by those who think the main/only point of the Gospel is to get into heaven."

I agree with the said poster. As a Christian, I find myself CONSTANTLY embarrassed by those who I feel have hijacked the religion. Maybe some of those have never READ the Bible, they are just looking at the cliff notes they get in a 25 min sermon on Sundays or trying to remember Sunday School lessons from years ago. So, along that line.... SELFISH CHRISTIANS bother me even more. In fact, you can't be selfish AND be a Christian. (Study the New Testament, you'll see what I mean)

I have HUGE problems with heaven/hell centered preaching.

First of all, the preoccupation with salvation/afterlife I think causes some to devalue other things in THIS life. The importance of death is lifted up so high, the life before our mortal death is trivialized, causing many to forget to love thy neighbor. Remember that? One of the two GREATEST commandments?

Secondly, since when is Jesus only about personal salvation? You friendly buddy Christ? Seriously, get over yourself. In a self-centered (how am I getting to heaven) and hell-centered (I am only doing these things to prevent myself from going to hell) salvation, doesn't the teaching of Jesus just get reduced to a quick means to get to Heaven? We want to do it as painlessly as possible too.

Third, if you're so focused on self-salvation through your gospel, are you starting to lose focus that Jesus was the Savior and Lord of the world? Someone said to me once, Lord means "master", not mascot. I can't agree more. Before you argue with me, take a moment to think about that statement.

Personally, I shake my head at most Christians. We've dumbed down Jesus to Buddy Christ sitting there next to us watching tv, enjoying our golden ticket into heaven.

And again, I'm trying to remind myself I feel more grounded when I blog.